TY - JOUR
T1 - Release of tens of thousands of microfibers from discarded face masks under simulated environmental conditions
AU - Wu, Pengfei
AU - Li, Jiangpeng
AU - Lu, Xiao
AU - Tang, Yuanyuan
AU - Cai, Zongwei
N1 - This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) ( 41977329 , 22106130 ), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province ( 2021B1515020041 ), the Special Funds for the Cultivation of Guangdong College Students' Scientific and Technological Innovation (“Climbing Program” Special Funds pdjh2021c0038 ), the State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control , and the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control . We also thank Mr. Yingzhe She (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Guangzhou, China) for technical support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/2/1
Y1 - 2022/2/1
N2 - While mechanical abrasion by water and sediment is a primary and critical step in weathering process, the upsurge of discarded face masks will undoubtedly become a potential source of micro-/nanofibers owing to the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia. However, effects of mechanical abrasion on discarded face masks have neither been seriously addressed nor understood. Therefore, we conducted a simulated experiment to explore abundance, size distribution and morphology of microfibers released from common, surgical and face filtering piece (FFP) masks after mechanical abrasion. Technologies such as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used. Results showed that the abundance of released microfibers followed order of surgical > common > FFP in both water and sediment environments, and the maximum abundance reached 272 ± 12.49 items per square centimeter of mask (items·cm−2) after sediment abrasion. Taking surgical mask for further investigation, the length of released fiber was observed to vary from 47.78 μm to 3.93 mm, and 72.41–89.58% of the total number of released microfibers fell in the range of 0.1–1 mm. However, microfibers with a very small length (1–100 μm) can occupy 0.09–13.59% of the total number of released fibers in sediment environment. The roughness of fiber surface after sediment abrasion was successively increased. Furthermore, the morphology analysis showed significant changes with countless cracks and many prominent protrusions on fiber surface after sediment abrasion. The cracks and protrusions may further accelerate mask decomposition, thereby potentially resulting in the adsorption of other contaminants and the release of self-containing chemicals. This study provides a valuable database of microfibers released from discarded face masks at the primary but critical stage, and further contributes knowledge on environmental impact of discarded personal protective equipment due to COVID-19.
AB - While mechanical abrasion by water and sediment is a primary and critical step in weathering process, the upsurge of discarded face masks will undoubtedly become a potential source of micro-/nanofibers owing to the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia. However, effects of mechanical abrasion on discarded face masks have neither been seriously addressed nor understood. Therefore, we conducted a simulated experiment to explore abundance, size distribution and morphology of microfibers released from common, surgical and face filtering piece (FFP) masks after mechanical abrasion. Technologies such as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used. Results showed that the abundance of released microfibers followed order of surgical > common > FFP in both water and sediment environments, and the maximum abundance reached 272 ± 12.49 items per square centimeter of mask (items·cm−2) after sediment abrasion. Taking surgical mask for further investigation, the length of released fiber was observed to vary from 47.78 μm to 3.93 mm, and 72.41–89.58% of the total number of released microfibers fell in the range of 0.1–1 mm. However, microfibers with a very small length (1–100 μm) can occupy 0.09–13.59% of the total number of released fibers in sediment environment. The roughness of fiber surface after sediment abrasion was successively increased. Furthermore, the morphology analysis showed significant changes with countless cracks and many prominent protrusions on fiber surface after sediment abrasion. The cracks and protrusions may further accelerate mask decomposition, thereby potentially resulting in the adsorption of other contaminants and the release of self-containing chemicals. This study provides a valuable database of microfibers released from discarded face masks at the primary but critical stage, and further contributes knowledge on environmental impact of discarded personal protective equipment due to COVID-19.
KW - Confocal microscopy
KW - COVID-19
KW - Face masks
KW - Mechanical abrasion
KW - Microfiber release
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116396474&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150458
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150458
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34592275
AN - SCOPUS:85116396474
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 806
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 150458
ER -
